rondo form. This may be considered an extensionof Ternary Form.

If the 3 sections of that

form are indicated by the formula A, B, A, then the Rondo Form must be indicated by A, B,
A, C, A, D, A, orsome variant of this. (The sections B, C, D, etc. are often spoken of as
Episodes.)
In rondo form, a principal theme (sometimes called the "refrain") alternates with one or more
contrasting themes, generally called "episodes", but also occasionally referred to as "digressions" or
"couplets". Possible patterns in the Classical period include: ABA, ABACA, or ABACABA.[2] These
are sometimes designated "first rondo", "second rondo", and "third rondo", respectively. The first
rondo is distinguished from the three-part song form principally by the fact that at least one of the
themes is a song form in itself, but the difference in melodic and rhythmic content of the themes in
the rondo form is usually greater than in the song form, and the accompanimental figuration in the
parts of the rondo (unlike the song form) is usually contrasted.[3] The number of themes can vary
from piece to piece, and the recurring element is sometimes embellished and/or shortened in order
to provide for variation.
A Baroque predecessor to the rondo was the ritornello. Ritornello form was used in the fast
movements of baroque concertos, and in many baroque vocal and choral works. The entire
orchestra (in Italian, tutti) plays the main ritornello theme, while soloists play the intervening
episodes. While Rondo form is similar to ritornello form, it is different in that ritornello brings back the
subject or main theme in fragments and in different keys, but the rondo brings back its theme
complete and in the same key. Cedric Thorpe Davie is one author, however, who considers the
ritornello form the ancestor, not of the rondo form, but of the classical concerto form (which also
occurs, as a form, in many a classical-era aria.)[4]
A common expansion of rondo form is to combine it with sonata form, to create the sonata rondo
form. Here, the second theme acts in a similar way to the second theme group in sonata form by
appearing first in a key other than the tonic and later being repeated in the tonic key. Unlike sonata
form, thematic development does not need to occur except possibly in the coda.

Character type

Rondo as a character-type (as distinct from the form) refers to music that is fast and vivacious –
normally Allegro. Many classical rondos feature music of a popular or folk character. Music that has
been designated as "rondo" normally subscribes to both the form and character. On the other hand,
there are many examples of slower, reflective works that are rondo in form but not in character

Etymology

The term and perhaps the formal principle may have derived from the medieval poetic form rondeau,
which contains repetitions of a couplet separated by longer sections of poetry.
A rondeau (plural rondeaux) is a form of medieval and Renaissance French poetry, as well as the
corresponding musical chanson form. Together with the ballade and the virelai it was considered
one of the three formes fixes, and one of the verse forms in France most commonly set to music
between the late 13th and the 15th centuries. It is structured around a fixed pattern of repetition of
material involving a refrain. The rondeau is believed to have originated in dance songs involving
alternating singing of the refrain elements by a group and of the other lines by a soloist.[1] The term
"Rondeau" is today used both in a wider sense, covering several older variants of the form – which
are sometimes distinguished as the triolet and rondel – and in a narrower sense referring to a 15-line
variant which developed from these forms in the 15th and 16th centuries.[2] The rondeau is unrelated
with the much later instrumental dance form that shares the same name in French baroque music,
which is an instance of what is more commonly called the rondo form in classical music.

A B A C A B' A

VI, IV or
Major key I V I I I I
parallel minor

III
Minor key I I VI or IV I I I
or V